Ramona Learns Its Tennis Lessons Well : School Benefits From Nearby Academy

Last season, the Ramona High School boys’ tennis team didn’t get a break. It played 16 matches and lost them all.

But things are different this season. The Bulldogs are in first place in the Avocado League with a 5-0 record and are 7-1 overall. Ramona has one of the strongest teams in the county and is a threat to win a San Diego Section title.

But not everyone is pleased by the Bulldogs’ success, or at least how they’ve accomplished it.

Of the 10 players on the Ramona roster, seven are from the San Diego International Tennis Academy, which is located at the nearby San Diego Country Estates.

The Academy draws the finest junior players from around the world, who spend no less than four hours a day refining their skills. They also take part in tournaments year-round and get tips on conditioning. Some of the professional stars of the future may be right here at the SDITA.

There has been some doubt among rival Avocado League coaches as to whether the players from the Academy should be eligible. The players wanted to join the team last year, but didn’t meet CIF eligibility requirements.

The CIF states that a prospective athlete who transfers from a school outside the district without a change in permanent residence must sit out a year before becoming eligible to participate in any sport. However, if a given athlete’s family moves to the district, he or she has immediate eligibility, provided the family moved before the start of the school year.

Chris Toomey, Grant Hughes, Norberto Mantinan, Mike Brown, Jose Luis Becerra and brothers Greg and Doug Filla are the principles involved. Toomey, his mother and brother, Hughes and Mantinan all live in a house leased to Toomey’s mother by SDITA owner Mark Bener. The others live with their parents. All attended Ramona last year.

So, they all appear to be legal Ramona residents. However, San Pasqual Coach Ron Peet, whose team won the Avocado League title last season and is currently in second place, says the Bulldogs may have circumvented the rules a bit. Peet and others believe those in question are living in Ramona simply for tennis purposes, and shouldn’t have been allowed to join the team.

“I don’t like it from the fact that it’s frustrating to spend a lot of time building a high school team with our own players from the area, then have them bring people from other areas,” Peet said.

Said Carlsbad Coach Marv Cap: “We’re probably in a gray area (as to whether or not the kids should be on the team). Maybe this is a dangerous precedent they’re setting. Someone might say, ‘Well, what’s to prevent someone from starting a football academy, then recruiting all the good big kids and getting them eligible?’ ”

Don Gomsi is the director of the academy, and also coaches the boys’ team at Ramona. He sees nothing wrong with what Ramona has done.

“Other coaches are mad because they think they should be winning and we stepped right in, and we’re winning,” Gomsi said. “We’ve done everything above board, we’re not hiding anything

“My mind is clear. It doesn’t bother me at night.”

Ramona Athletic Director Larry Bringham feels the same way.

“When there’s a change from the bottom of the barrel to No. 1, you’re going to cause problems. I can understand San Pasqual getting a little upset. They’re a bit jealous of what’s going on.

“They’ve built with the same kids for three years, but they’ll have to live with it (the Bulldogs winning).

“It’s a good feeling on campus. Tennis isn’t a true spectator sport, but it’s becoming more visible here. We’ve been kind of down in other sports, this is our retaliation. We’re showing our stuff. It’s a good feeling--this is helping Ramona athletics.”

And what about the academy?

“We just happen to live in the area where the academy decided to lay its ground. The kids have to go to school, and they happen to go to Ramona,” Bringham said.

Said Toomey, a former Poway High student: “The kids at the academy have a right to play, because we meet the requirements. We didn’t last year.”

Derek Paige, one of the three non-academy players on the team (Scott Paddock and Kevin Lynch are the others) is glad the SDITA has such a heavy influence on Ramona’s team.

“We were always looked upon as an easy win,” Paige said. “This year, it’s ‘Oh, we’re gonna play Ramona, we’re gonna get killed.’

“A lot of people didn’t respect the tennis team. It makes me proud to say, ‘Hey, we killed your school.’

“And the academy guys are more team players than I am--that surprised me. I expected them to shun everyone else. They’re all team players.”

Not all the Bulldogs shared Paige’s enthusiasm when the academy members joined the team. Their presence forced some incumbents to face the prospects of being demoted to junior varsity. Three players quit when the newcomers came aboard, rather than join the JV.

“Our program was so down, those kids weren’t going to help us anyway,” Bringham said. “This will cause excitement for tennis in Ramona and get more kids into tennis. I don’t think it’ll scare kids in the long run.”

But this might: It has been suggested that the academy players attend only two classes a day at Ramona, then spend the rest of the day at the academy playing tennis, and are not taking the required number of academic courses. Then there are the allegations Ramona recruited the players from the academy.

“That’s not true,” Filla said. “I wasn’t recruited. I had no idea I’d play on the team when I came here.

“I joined the team because I wanted to see Ramona do something good in tennis. I saw ‘em last year, and they were getting slaughtered. I’d like to see them win the CIF.”

That may happen, although San Pasqual will have something to say about the issue. Peet thinks the presence of the academy players may actually benefit the Golden Eagles.

“It gives us something to look forward to (when San Pasqual plays the Bulldogs),” Peet said. “Better tennis is played. I don’t have trouble getting kids motivated.”

Beating Ramona this year takes plenty of motivation, and the Bulldogs should be just as tough in the future.

“We’ll continue to draw from the academy,” Bringham said. “I plan to use every kid that’s eligible.”

According to Cap, relying on the SDITA isn’t such a good idea.

“I think in the long run, it’ll probably kill Ramona tennis,” Cap said. “Academies open and close, and when this one does, Ramona tennis is going to go with it.”

But if that doesn’t happen, Peet says San Pasqual is ready to strike back in other sports.

“The baseball coach (Bill Green) said he’ll open up a baseball school right next to San Pasqual.